A Conference on ‘’Public Consultations and Empowering Citizens’’ held in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina


A Conference on “Public Consultations and Empowering Citizens’’, co-organized by the Constitutional-Legal Committees of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, and supported by the Government of the Swiss Confederation, was held in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. It was heard at the conference that ‘’ public consultations are the key aspect of the legislative process, since draft laws could be presented to different interest groups to be reviewed, before being submitted to parliamentary procedure. Thus, it would make the process of decision –making easier for parliaments’’.

The Conference gathered Members of both Houses of the BiH PA, representatives from the BiH Ministry of Justice, the National Assembly and the Government of the Republika Srpska, the House of Peoples and House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, Legislative-Legal committees, cantonal governments, etc. The conference programme focused on workshops on “Empowering citizens, as a tool for strengthening legitimacy and integrating diversity’’, and ‘’Procedure for public consultations, as a tool for increasing the legitimacy and efficiency of the legislative process’’.

The first workshop focused on how the Constitutional framework can provide a more active role for citizens in the process of public consultations. The opening remarks were given by Mr. Andreas Groos, Member of the Parliament of Switzerland and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The second workshop focused on public consultation-related issues, with Dr. Jeremias Blaser, a Swiss lawyer, as speaker. It was noted at this workshop that the key players’ views on different legislative proposals enable easier law enforcement, since the key players had already been consulted and were therefore prepared to make legislative amendments. (end)